My beautiful child.
As soon
as my son was able to express himself and make choices, he identified as male despite his female organs. As a family we never pushed anything and allowed him to grow and develop as 'just Al' He always presented as male and was happy and well liked growing up.
'Losing a child?'
When Al was 12 he had to undertake emergency open heart surgery due to a genetic anomaly which went horribly wrong and he subsequently suffered 2 cardiac arrests and very nearly died, just as his younger brother had done at 2 years old. This is when I realised that I had not 'lost' a daughter and that he was still the same amazing, brave, clever, funny human as he had always been. He had just been mis-labelled at birth.
Puberty
As Al reached puberty he became more and more unhappy about his body, and after going through a full, holistic and intrusive assessment at the Gender Identity Clinic, he made the decision to change his name and gender officially. He was still forced to hide his body away under a tight binder which is potentially damaging to his organs. He now has a lovely girlfriend and is planning on starting his music career studying Double Bass at a conservatoire in September and yet his mental health is deteriorating fast due to the dysmorphia he is experiencing. Al desperately needs top surgery so that he can go about his everyday life without feeling shame and embarrassment but unfortunately the NHS are unable to help without us waiting around 5 years at least by which time he will be 24 and we have now made the decision that for fear of losing him again to poor mental health or even suicide, we need to pay privately.
Please help
Unfortunately I am a single mother who has had to give up her job due to progressing multiple sclerosis and, despite being able to save around £3000, it will take me many years to save the £8000-£12000 needed for this procedure to be done safely.
We need help. I just want Al to feel like he can have relationships, that he doesn't need to wear baggy jumpers in the scorching sun and he can perform without hiding his body behind his double bass.